Chapter 17

Back on the ward I took Lilly and introduced her to Peggy. Peggy was shy at first but Lilly's maternal drive eventually won her over and they ended up chatting away like old friends. I left them in Peggy's room and went for a run around the hospital. I wanted to think a little more about Dr. Wills' offer of a job.

'That's not what you should be thinking about, Ike.'

"What should I be thinking about Mom?

'When are you going to stop saving strangers and go rescue your sister?'

"Izzy doesn't need rescuing. She's doing what she wants to."

'Today is the 25^th.'

"Is it? I haven't been paying attention."

'You've been paying attention. How would I know if you weren't?'

"Alright! I've been paying attention. But if she needed saving, why hasn't she called or written? Why haven't I heard anything from Dad?"

'When Izzy rescued you from yourself, locked up in your room, did you ask her to? Did you ask anyone?'

No, she'd come after me on her own, driven by guilt and her need for forgiveness. Was there any difference now? I had guilt for not knowing enough to tell her how I felt. I'd been hoping my letter to her would encourage her to forgive me for my youth and stupidity. She'd come after me. Was she waiting, hoping, I'd come after her?

I went back up to the seventh floor and knocked on Colonel DeBerg's office door.

"Come!" his muffled voice called out.

I opened the door and walked in.

"Got a few minutes, Colonel?"

"Sure thing. Have a seat. What's on your mind?"

"Several things, I'm afraid. But first things first... What can you tell me about Peggy Driscoll? I mean, where is she from, her family life, education, age, what was she doing before she got sent up here... that sort of thing?"

He went digging thru a stack of file folders and pulled out one near the top.

"Let's see... Peggy Victoria Driscoll, age twenty six. She was an orphan, abandoned and found wandering the streets of Baltimore at age eight, taken in to a city home. Never adopted. Fostered out three times and ran away three times. Eventually left the city home at eighteen. Attended a local community college, got an Associates in Administration and a civil service job working at the Library of Congress. Erratic behavior was noticed over the period of the last year and that's why she was seen and admitted here for treatment."

I nodded my head. That explained a great deal. I'd been on the right track with my diagnosis of her problem.

"Thanks Colonel. I've paired her up with Lilly. I'm hoping that having a female friend will keep her calm and more relaxed around the others."

DeBerg raised an eyebrow.

"And hoping that taking care of Peggy will offer Lilly an outlet for her needs?"

I smiled slightly. "I can always hope, can't I?"

"We have to keep hoping. Otherwise, what's the point?"

"My next question is related to the visit a little while back by the CIA."

"Ah, yes... Dr. Wills and his assistant."

"Dr. Wills offered me a job, once the Army is done with me."

"Doing what, if you don't mind my asking?"

"I believe he said the job title was 'Deputy to the Deputy Director of Internal Security'. In effect, I'd be his chosen successor."

The Colonel was silent for nearly a minute. "I have only the vaguest idea what the Deputy Director of Internal Security does, but it sounds to me like spy catching."

"Pretty much, yes."

"I can see where you'd be very good at something like that. But what about your medical ambitions?"

"Dr. Wills pretty much guaranteed me a spot at Georgetown University so I could finish my Bachelors and encouraged me to take a Masters as well, even a PhD if I wanted one. I don't intend to give up my original goal, Colonel."

"So how can I help with this?"

I grinned. "I'm out of change. I was wondering if I could use your phone to call Dr. Wills and tell him I'm accepting his offer."

I called Dr. Wills' using one of the numbers on the business card he'd given me.

"Central Intelligence Agency, how may I direct your call?" the disembodied female voice asked.

I gave the extension number off the card and waited.

"Internal Security, state your name and the individual your wish to contact." This voice was male and disinterested.

"Ike Blacktower for Dr. Wills." There was a dead air silence for about ten seconds, followed by some faint clicks and electronic squawks. Then I heard his voice.

"Ike, delighted to hear from you. Have you decided to join us?"

"Yes Doctor. I accept your offer."

"Wonderful. I'll have Mr. Jones drop by in a couple of days with the paperwork. We can get all the messy administrative nonsense out of the way so as soon as you are released by the Army you can step right in here."

"I'll keep an eye out for Mr. Jones. Thanks again."

"No, thank you son. You've just made my life a hell of a lot simpler. We'll be seeing you soon."

The line at his end clicked a few times and there was more electronic noise and then it went dead.

Hmmmm... taps and traces and links, oh my!

Two days later I was in the dayroom playing cards with Walt, Lilly and Peggy. We'd been playing Hearts and Walt and I were getting stomped by the girls, when Captain Rossi came in.

"Ike, Colonel DeBerg would like to see you."

"Thanks Captain. Sorry guys. Try some cutthroat till I get back."

Walt and Lilly just nodded, but Peggy seemed a little angry.

I headed out and down the hall. I'd been expecting this all day.

Colonel DeBerg was waiting outside his office. He waved me in and pulled the door shut, staying outside.

"Good afternoon Mr. Blacktower." Mr. Jones said from behind the colonel's desk. He'd just finished setting up a small portable computer next to a thin stack of forms.

"Afternoon, Mr. Jones."

"Please sit down and get comfortable. This won't take as long as it used to, since most of the forms are kept on computers, but there's still some actual writing that will have to be done."

We spent two hours, with him asking questions and me giving answers. Most of the information they already had, from my military records and background checks. But as Mr. Jones pointed out, "There are levels beyond Top Secret, Mr. Blacktower, and in your position you'll have to have access to all of them."

I'd just finished filling out my Civil Service application forms and signing them in all the appropriate places, initialing where required or requested when Mr. Jones began shutting down his computer and putting it back into its carrying case.

"Once all the paperwork is filed and annotated by the departments responsible and your final security checks have been completed, we'll bring you in and get you your credentials."

"Thank you Mr. Jones."

He paused, then reached into his jacket pocket and removed a folded piece of paper. He reached out and handed it to me.

"Dr. Wills asked me to tell you that it might be a good idea for you to take some leave and go home. The Doctor doesn't know about what's on that paper. That is from one soldier to another."

I opened the paper. Richard Cruz 54313 W. Everwood Lane

Nodding my head in acknowledgement, I folded the paper and put it in my front pocket.

I stood up and shook hands with the man across the desk.

"Thank you."

He just nodded, gathered up his bag and briefcase and left. I stood in the office and thought.

Richard Cruz. Ricky.

I buttonholed Colonel DeBerg and got him to sign a leave form for me. One week. I had one week. I felt a strange sense of having gone down this path before.

I asked Lilly to keep a close eye on Peggy and let Colonel DeBerg know if anything out of the ordinary happened. We kissed and I told her not to worry, I'd be back soon.

Peggy, it turned out, was harder to talk to. Sitting on the bed in her room I tried to explain.

"Honey, I have to home for a little while."

"I don't want you to go. I'll be all alone again." She looked like she was on the brink of tears.

"No you won't. Lilly will be here. You like Lilly, don't you?"

She nodded, still pouting slightly.

"Peggy, what's wrong?"

She turned away, shifting her legs on the bed. "Victor and Valentine are gone."

"Gone? Are you sure?"

Her voice got very small and hushed. "They said they and the other boys were leaving, that I didn't need them anymore."

"Peggy, that's wonderful news! You're getting better!"

"They said I didn't need them because I had you to look out for me now."

Ahhhh...

"I see. Peggy, do you know what I want for you, more than anything?" She shook her head, not looking at me. "I want you to be able to look out for yourself. So that you don't need me or anyone else to make you feel safe. I want you to be able to do that for you."

"You do want to leave me!" she accused at the top of her lungs.

"That's enough!" I growled. I took her arm and hauled her off the bed and drug her out into the hall and down towards the elevators.

Lilly was coming towards us and her smile faded when she saw the scowl on my face and the anger on Peggy's.

"Father-daughter chat time?" she called as I stormed past, dragging Peggy in my wake.

"Something like that." I called back over my shoulder. "We'll be right back."

We arrived at the elevators just as the doors opened. Three medtechs got off and I pushed Peggy in ahead of me.

"Don't you move!"

I punched the button for the eighth floor and stood watching while Peggy stared defiantly at me.

The doors opened. I held them open and glared down at the woman who'd backed herself into a corner of the elevator car.

"Out... now!" I growled softly. She scooted quickly past me and stood in the center of the open room.

I waited for the elevator doors to close. Turning around I began moving slowly towards her.

"Peggy, I am not leaving you. I am not abandoning you. I won't do that. I will look after you until you can do it yourself. And when that happens, I'll still be your friend."

"Then why are you leaving me?!" she yelled.

"Peggy, I have a sister and she may be in trouble. She needs my help too."

"You don't care about me! You don't care what happens to me!"

I started losing my temper. I'd never been in a position like this in my life and I had no idea how to deal with it. Frustration and anger surged in me.

I wrapped my hands around her waist, lifted her up in the air and carried her to the mats, still piled up from our last visit. Tucking her under my right arm, I sat down on the mats, then swung her around face down across my knees and smacked her upturned backside.

Peggy grunted with the impact of my hand on her small bottom and started fighting to escape. But I was bigger and stronger and madder than she was. Peggy wasn't going anywhere unless I let her.

"I care that you won't listen to me." I swatted her butt.

"I care that you are selfish." Another smack. Her struggles decreased some. Then she bit me on the calf.

With the hand I'd been spanking with, I grabbed hold of the waistband of her hospital issued pants and yanked them down over her hips, exposing her naked ass. Her cheeks were already turning a bright red color; the cleft between those burnished globes was open, exposing her anal ring and the bare fleshy lips of her pussy.

"I care that you don't care about me!" and I walloped the exposed cheeks with the palm of my hand and the sound cracked loudly thru-out the room.

Peggy wailed and cried, her arms wrapped tightly around my thigh, hugging so hard I started to lose some of the circulation.

'Be very careful, Ike. This could cause problems you aren't prepared to deal with.'

"Mom, she's acting like a spoiled child. If she won't listen to reason, I have to get thru to her somehow."

'But she's not a child. She's a frightened young woman who's lost her only means of protection. She's become fixated on you now; you are her protection. You are her father figure."

"I'm nobody's father." I whispered sadly.

'You are now. Better get used to it. And remember, she's not a little child. She's a grown woman with a child's needs.'

A child's need for love, and attention. A need for discipline...

'Discipline, yes. But be very careful or you could link discipline in her mind with sex.'

"Oh, shit!" I hissed.

Below, Peggy buried her face against my thigh and was crying softly.

"I'm sorry... I do care... I love you." She gasped thru her hicups.

Carefully prying her arms loose I lifted her up off my lap and set her on her feet. Her pants slid down and puddled at her feet. I pulled them up and fastened the waistband, closing the snaps. Then I pulled her close and hugged her to me.

Peggy climbed into my lap and I cuddled her, rocking her back and forth.

"I'm sorry I hit you. I shouldn't have done that."

"I love you, Ike." She said softly, her sobs fading slowly.

I linked. The rush of love coming from her was tremendous and frightening. When I'd linked to her before Victor and the others left there was nothing even remotely like this in her. This was all Peggy's own doing.

It had been years since I'd felt this kind of love. To say I was unprepared would be a massive understatement.